Probers Pose Theory For Ferry Sinking

Open Bow Door May Have Doomed Vessel

October 01, 1994|By New York News Service.

STOCKHOLM — Swedish authorities said Friday they believed the ferry Estonia's bow door opened or was never properly closed on its doomed voyage this week, allowing water to flood in and irretrievably destabilize the vessel.

In their most detailed statements since the ferry went down in a howling storm early Wednesday, officials from Sweden's National Maritime Administration stopped short of declaring that the bow door was the definite cause of the sinking.

But they said accounts by survivors left them little doubt that the bow door was breached and that large amounts of water entered the deck carrying cars and trucks.

In the Baltic Sea off the southwest coast of Finland, a search ship using sonar found the wreck of the Estonia on the sea floor in 250 feet of water and deployed robotic cameras to begin gathering pictures. The authorities said they had not determined whether they would try to raise the ship or recover the many bodies believed still aboard.

Rescue teams pulled 141 survivors from fierce seas Wednesday. There were 982 passengers on board, according to the ferry's operator, Estline, although the Estonian authorities put the number at 1,049. Estonian officials said Friday that many young children may not have been noted on the passenger register, meaning that the number of victims could be even higher.

Among the survivors was one of the ferry's two captains, Aavo Piht, an Estonian.

The authorities said that after some confusion regarding his whereabouts, he had been found in Finland and that he had spoken to investigators. They said they had no information about what Piht had said.

Piht was not in command during the voyage but is believed to have been on the bridge. The other captain, Arvo Andresson, who is also Estonian, is believed to have gone down with the ship.

Bengt-Erik Stenmark, the Swedish maritime administration's safety director, told a news conference that survivors' accounts suggested the "bow door had a break" that was "exposed to the excessive forces of the sea."

Stenmark said there was some evidence that the bow door was wide open or missing when the ship went down.

Swedish inspectors conducting an informal examination of the Estonia on Tuesday had noted wear and tear on the rubber seals around the bow doors, but did not deem the problem serious enough to take action.